Barcelona wants to "steal" another player from Manchester City

Barcelona had to settle for the Copa del Rey last season and is preparing the next campaign to go for everything: the Spanish league and the Champions League. For that, the brand new board chaired by Joan Laporta, who resolved the continuity of Ronald Koeman and would be about to announce the renewal of Lionel Messi, is looking for quality signings to build a team around the Argentine star. A heavy name is in the pipeline and they are likely to negotiate for it any time soon.

The mentioned international star is Raheem Sterling, according to information that was released on Sky Sports. The English winger of Manchester City is the dream of the Barça Board, which is excited to have an attacking trident made up of Messi, the recently hired Sergio Agüero and Erik García, and the British man who is currently led by Josep Guardiola.

There are some parallel negotiations to take into account when delving into this hypothetical signing. Barcelona negotiates the extension of the Ousmane Dembélé link, which expires in mid-2022. In the event that French makes it difficult to hold talks, the options for English will grow. Or, rather, the desire of the Catalan club to have him.

Raheem Sterling's salary and contract

Guardiola considers a vital piece of his eleven to the Englishman who started in the last Champions League final against Chelsea. In fact, the British international is one of the referents of his squad. At City, he has a contract until mid-2023 and his record oscillates at 90 million euros, an unpayable figure for a Barcelona that is just recovering from an economic-financial crisis inherited by the management of the controversial Josep Maria Bartomeu.

With this outlook, the only way for Barça to have a chance of staying with the skilful and fast English winger is if he makes cash with some important sale or if he offers players as part of payment to the citizen team. In Spain they highlighted the excellent relationship between Laporta and Guardiola, something that can help the negotiations come to fruition. Of course, Pep will have to be convinced to release one of the emblems of his team.

And in turn, Barcelona will have to convince the 26-year-old footballer to move from his native country and leave the Premier League, undoubtedly the most competitive today. If this is done, it will be one of the bombshell signings on the market and Raheem Sterling will join his former teammates Sergio Agüero and Eric García, who have just come from City.